GNSS manufacturers offer receivers with different number of channels. How important it is for the equipment performance? and how important it is when deciding which instrument/brand to purchase?
Simply put, your GNSS receiver needs 2 channels for every satellite it tracks. The question is, how many satellite can we see at a given location and time? well, as a rule of thumb, at most you will be exposed to 12 GPS satellite and 7 Glonass (At least half of satellites available will be out of view on the other side of the planet or out of view due to ground obstructions). Let's do the math (12 + 7) x 2 = 38 channels. Even in the future, adding Galileo and some other signals will increase the number to 60 or 65 channels at most.
So more channels, the better, right? not exactly. As you can conclude, 72 channels receiver will be enough to track all satellites in view, be ready for future coming signals, and search for new satellites it is predicting will come into view. So more channels the better– to a certain point. Anything beyond this point is a pure marketing game.
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